Patient positioning is critical in order for medical personnel to properly treat and/or diagnose patients. One example is in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) where a portion of the patient's anatomy is scanned within a relatively small imaging volume in an MRI scanner.
One type of MRI scanner includes a magnet that is formed with two poles. A patient is positioned in a gap between the poles during a scanning procedure.
A prior art MRI scanner is shown in FIG. 1. The scanner 10 includes two poles 12A, 12B. The pole 12A, 12B are oriented along a common horizontal pole axis 14 such that a gap 16 is formed between vertical pole surfaces 18A, 18B on poles 12A, 12B. A patient positioner (not shown) is positioned within the gap 16. During a scanning operation a patient is placed onto the patient positioner.
One problem with MRI scanner 10 is that patients are often oriented with their body in a horizontal position. However, there are times when other positions of the body, such as vertical, angular, Trendelenburg and/or reverse Trendelenburg, are desirable to appropriately diagnosis or treat a patient.
Another problem is that the patient positioner within the gap is fixed such that using multiple different types of positioners is impractical. Since any one patient positioner is typically limited in how it can orient a patient within the gap, the ability to quickly and accurately maneuver a patient into an appropriate position may be compromised depending on how a patient needs to be scanned. Many of the fixed positioners have limited ability to orient a patient in a number of positions.